Blinking as the bright light blinds him, Ryan tries to look around. No longer is there any screens, nor can he find Agbaal. Instead what he sees is dark, cold stone walls. He tries to move, but finds that he his weighed down. He tries to look down but fails, instead he decides to move his hands. When his hands come into his sight he sees that they are tiny. Thinking about it he realises that they are a babies hands. He has reincarnated, he is no longer just a soul. Turns out Agbaal chose a world that would accept a new soul into it. But that doesn't explain where he is. Looking around again he notice that there seems to be a large wooden door on one of the stone walls.
Just lying there Ryan waits for what might have been hours without anything changing but the light going darker and darker. At this points he steels himself and decides that he will have to do as a baby does and start crying. It turned out to be easier than he imagined, he barely started a whimper before his body, on its own, went into full crying and shrieking.
It didn't take more than a few minutes of Ryan crying and shrieking before the large wooden doors opened and a covered head poked out looking around. The head looked left and right, until it finally looked down and saw a baby lying on the steps. The door opened fully and a man dressed in what appeared to be some form of religious attire walked out towards Ryan. The man bent down, looking at the crying baby, before saying "Why are you here little one? Did someone abandon you? Well, we can't have you lying out here now can we?" The man picked up Ryan and turned to walk back inside. Once inside Ryan could roughly make out what appeared to be a room with a tall ceiling, seeing anything else was quite difficult with tears filling his eyes. "Hush, hush, all is well now little one. I will bring you to the monastery outside town tomorrow and give you to the nuns. In the mean time lets see if I can't find you some food" The man said as he carried Ryan towards the back of the church.
Ryan, finally managing to stop crying as he got some food, tried to speak, only for the sounds to turn into weird baby sounds. The man, whom he suspected was a priest, laughed at this attempt saying "I see food was indeed what you needed. Now, seeing as you were left on the steps I can imagine that your parents didn't want you. So it will be up to me and the gods to give you a name. Hmm, maybe Lucius? No, you don't strike me as a Lucius. Ah, Alexander, that seems a fitting name for you." Ryan, being given a new name, wasn't entirely sure what to think of it. He couldn't object after all, and it would probably be years before he could actually talk. At that point no one would agree with him that he should be named Ryan. Ryan was also starting to feel quite tired, having been awake for what he believed to be hours and promptly fell asleep.
Waking up, Ryan tried to shake his head, finding that it wasn't easy. It took him a few seconds to realise that everything that had happened was real. He was in another world. He was a baby again, an orphan, and he had gotten a new name, Alexander. Lying in what might be a basket, he was thinking about his situation as he heard a noise. The noise turned out to be the man, priest, from yesterday? The priest looked down on Alexander before turning his head to left and saying, "sister, here he is. I ended up naming him Alexander since there was nothing with him. Please bring him with you when you return to the monastery." Turning his head, Ryan, or rather Alexander, could see a woman. The woman looked first down at Alexander before turning to the priest saying, "certainly Father. We still have a bed or two free in the monastery orphanage, though we really need for his Lordship to donate more if we are to continue taking in orphans." To this the priest answered, "I will try to get him to donate some extra next time he comes here to pray."
The woman, or nun rather, picked up the basket with Alexander and left the church. Outside the church all Alexander managed to see was the sky and the sides of the basket. If he were to guess he would say it took them an hour or two before they arrived inside again. During this time the nun had stopped a few times buying some items.
The new building they were in now was built of the same stone that the church had been, so Alexander guessed this had to be the monastery. This guess was confirmed just seconds later as a boys voice could be heard shouting, "Sister Selina, sister Selina! Richard hit me again! Please punish him, he needs to be punished!" At this the nun, Selina, chuckled, "it is ok dear, I will take care of it. He knows that under the eyes of the gods such actions will be punished. Now say hello to your new little brother, Alexander" A boys head peaked over the edge of the basket and looked down on Alexander, before saying "he looks ugly. Why are we getting another little brother? I don't want there to be more children here. We are already so many!"
Alexander was taken to another room in the monastery whilst quite a few children came up to Selina and him, looking down at him. A few of the boys and girls uttered similar words and sentiments as the first boy. At this point Alexander was starting to get the understanding that there quite a lot of orphans here and that the monastery couldn't quite keep up with the number. He was moved from the basket into a bed, beside which were a few other beds occupied with children of seemingly the same age. If he were to take a guess to his own age, it would probably be somewhere around one, or one and a half years old. Before leaving him, Selina said "tomorrow we will be having your birthday celebration Alexander so that you can come in under the light of one of the gods."
The next morning some of the other nuns staying at the monastery came around to feed and take care of the children that couldn't do such themselves. After which Alexander was picked up and brought into the monastery chapel. Here he was handed to the abbess whom held him facing towards the walls where there were effigies of 5 gods. She introduced them as the group known as the Lords of Mel. Hearing this Alexander came to think of Agbaal whom mentioned Mel as one of his names, or at least a name he was known as. Was there a link between these Lords of Mel and him? Was he one of them? As he was thinking this the abbess continued talking, introducing the Lords of Mel to him. The first, and leader of the Lords, was Melandar the Exalted. Next came Elandar the Holy, second to Melandar; third was Abrandar the Scribe, third to Melandar and scribe of the Lords. Fourth was Sirmandar the Warrior, guardian and hand of Melandar. Fifth and last came Tirmandar the Lawmaker, judge and executioner to Melandar.
After the gods had been introduced to Alexander the abbess continued on about their roles on life, what domains the different gods controlled, something Alexander didn't pay much attention too since there had been no mention of Agbaal as any of the Lords. When the abbess finished preaching she said aloud "under the watchful eyes of the Lords, by the word of Melandar, the light of Elandar, writing of Abrandar, sword of Sirmandar and laws of Tirmandar Alexander is born truly into the world. From this day forth he walks in their gaze, follows their laws and accept their punishment when it is due. So it is, and so it forever shall be. And by those words we, the sisters and children of the Saint Miranda of Tiramdal Monastery accept you as a son and brother." Finishing her speech to the convent and children the abbess handed Alexander back to the sister that had brought him this morning to the chapel.
Following the ceremony in the chapel, which had lasted for quite a while, judging by the sky when Alexander was carried outside, they went to the communal dining room where he was fed. After getting some food he was carried back to the room for the smallest children and put back into one of the beds.
For the next few weeks most of Alexander's days went to eating and listening to the different nuns talking when they were caring for the smallest children. From what he could gather he would stay in this room until he could walk and, hopefully, talk.